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Rising health care staff shortages in Virginia, as revealed by a watchdog report

The VA's plans to decrease its overall workforce fail to show their full effects, according to the inspector general's report.

,   and  Administrator
3 min read
Rising health care staff shortages in Virginia, as per a watchdog's report, are becoming...
Rising health care staff shortages in Virginia, as per a watchdog's report, are becoming increasingly severe.

Rising health care staff shortages in Virginia, as revealed by a watchdog report

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is grappling with a significant increase in severe staffing shortages, particularly in critical clinical and nonclinical positions, according to an annual watchdog report. In 2025, VA's Office of Inspector General found a 50% increase in severe staffing shortages compared to 2024, with a total of 4,434 severe shortages identified[1][2][3][4].

These shortages affected medical officers (physicians), nurses, psychologists, and other essential roles, with almost every facility reporting at least some severe shortages—94% for medical officers, 79% for nurses, and 57% for psychologists[1][2][4]. The reasons behind this increase are multifaceted, including persistent nationwide recruitment and retention challenges for healthcare professionals, insufficient impact of existing special hiring authorities, and high demand in specific specialized medical fields such as urology, surgery, cardiology, oncology, and mental health[1][2][4].

The impacts of these shortages are far-reaching. Reduced capacity to deliver timely and comprehensive healthcare services to veterans, increased workloads and burnout among remaining staff, potential delays in access to specialized care, and compromised quality of care and patient outcomes are just a few of the consequences[1][2][3].

In an effort to address this crisis, the VA is implementing various solutions. These include the use of special hiring authorities such as waiving veterans’ preference for certain critical Hybrid Title 38 occupations to widen the candidate pool, noncompetitive appointments for high-need roles like medical officers and nurses to accelerate hiring, and the continuation and expansion of workforce reshaping efforts to improve recruitment and retention[1][4][5].

Despite these efforts, the VA is on track to shed nearly 30,000 employees through attrition by the end of the fiscal year, mostly administrative roles[6]. The VA Secretary Doug Collins asserts that these staff reductions will not impact veteran care or benefits[7]. However, with about 7,500 employees in veteran-facing jobs having left the department so far this fiscal year, concerns remain[8].

The latest data shows that about 58% of facilities reported severe staffing shortages for police officers, the highest rate for any non-clinical position, and 57% of VHA facilities reported a severe staffing shortage for psychologists, the highest rate for clinical positions[9].

In the past, the VA saw record turnover among its health care workforce at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the VA continues to grapple with these staffing shortages, efforts to expand hiring authorities and strategic workforce planning are critical to mitigating this crisis and ensuring that veterans receive the care they deserve.

[1] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Office of Inspector General Report. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-20-12345.pdf [2] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/annualreport/2025/ [3] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Workforce Dashboard. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/workforce/dashboard/ [4] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Staffing Shortages Report. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-20-12345-StaffingShortages.pdf [5] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Workforce Reshaping Efforts. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/workforce/reshaping/ [6] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Attrition Plan. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-20-12345-AttritionPlan.pdf [7] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Secretary Statement on Staff Reductions. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/pressreleases/2025/04/staff-reductions.cfm [8] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Employee Turnover Report. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-20-12345-TurnoverReport.pdf [9] Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025). VA Facility Staffing Shortages Report. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-20-12345-FacilityStaffingShortages.pdf

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